


Best friends, soulmates and chem lab partners

by Eowima



Series: Love is [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Academy Era, Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Best Friends to Soulmates, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Soulmates, let's not forget the most important: chem lab partners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-14
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-22 23:34:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30046515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eowima/pseuds/Eowima
Summary: Nothing at all has ever been proven as far as soulmates are concerned actually. Studies have been lead through the centuries, obviously, but they’re all either pretty wonky or inconclusive, which Jemma finds extremely disappointing and frustrating. One of her favorite quote states that magic is just science we don’t understand yet, but she really, really wishes someone could tell her a little more about this phenomenon and how it works.She’s 16, and she’s never met anyone she’s wanted to be soulmate with before.Then she meets him.Leo Fitz.Or: FitzSimmons Academy Era Soulmate AU :D
Relationships: Leo Fitz & Jemma Simmons, Leo Fitz/Jemma Simmons
Series: Love is [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2223615
Comments: 20
Kudos: 50





	Best friends, soulmates and chem lab partners

**Author's Note:**

> Good day! :D that was fun to write, hope you like it!

Jemma Simmons has tried for a long time to make it all scientific, but there’s apparently nothing scientific about _soulmates_.

She’s always been a little put off by the concept, because she doesn’t understand it. There’s no logic behind it, and the multitude of research papers she’s read on the subject didn’t help much. No one seems to know much about soulmates, how they’re chosen, what they mean, and it’s deeply frustrating at times. She hates it, because she excels at preparation, and she can’t fathom a way to prepare for something that she doesn’t understand, something that _no one_ can understand!

You get a soulmark when you touch your soulmate for the first time. A small tattoo appears on the inside of your wrist and theirs, supposedly representing you and your soulmate’s spirit. Soulmates aren’t necessarily romantic, and you can get multiple soulmarks during the course of your life. The first one usually appears around 16 to 18 years of age, but there have been a few recorded occurrences on younger subjects. The link bonding two soulmates varies greatly. Some people experience a mental connection – sharing strong emotions – or a physical one – sharing pain, or pleasure, for example – and there has been a few cases of people worldwide who could supposedly hear each other’s thoughts – though nothing’s been proven about that yet.

Nothing _at all_ has ever been proven as far as soulmates are concerned actually. Studies have been lead through the centuries, obviously, but they’re all either pretty wonky or inconclusive, which Jemma finds extremely disappointing and frustrating. One of her favorite quote states that magic is just science we don’t understand yet, but she really, really wishes someone could tell her a little more about this phenomenon and how it _works_.

She’s 16, and she’s never met anyone she’s wanted to be soulmate with before.

Then she meets him.

Leo Fitz.

The youngest cadet at the Academy after her – and they’re only 23 days apart. From their very first conversation about dielectric polarization, in the middle of a class filled with older cadets that don’t seem to even know how to follow their thought process, she knows that if she has a soulmate, she would like it to be him.

It’s a deeply irrational thought. Like a gut feeling, she thinks, but she usually never gets those, always following logic and science. You can never go wrong with those. She easily finds an explanation though. He’s the only interesting one around here. Oh, maybe she’s being a little harsh, of course there are plenty of interesting people at the Academy, it’s just… well, no one is like him. She thinks he’s properly fascinating really, so quiet and pasty, handsome… but then it turns out that he hates her.

Jemma doesn’t understand why, and it hurts a lot more than she would ever admit. He ignores her half the time, refusing to talk to her or even look at her, and the rest of the time, he contradicts her in front of everyone any chance he gets. They get into very heated arguments in all the classes they share, sometimes against each other, sometimes against another cadet or even some of their professors. People start calling them FitzSimmons even though they never spend any time together outside of class. She finds it demeaning at first, and is quite frustrated that he seems to hate her so much. She doesn’t know _why_ , which is terribly irritating.

Part of her still thinks they would be great soulmates though. Sometimes she finds herself imagining what would happen if she were to touch him. How he would react if a soulmark appeared on their wrists. Obviously she never attempts to do such a thing. She would never touch anyone without their consent. People are always very careful regarding this particular matter.

A couple of months pass, then they’re paired up in chem lab, much to their dismay… and when they finish their assignment almost an entire hour before anyone else, they realize that together, they’re twice as smart, and that’s a _lot_ to say.

That’s when their relationship shifts. He’s very shy, even more than she is, but suddenly they’re able to have entire conversations about anything science related – and then other things, too – without ending up at each other’s throat. They still argue a lot, but it’s challenging, and stimulating, and she knows he enjoys it just as much as she does. She’s never met someone like him. The more she gets to know him, the more she realizes how utterly _brilliant_ he is.

She gets her soulmark accidentally one morning, three months after they start being friends, when they both reach for the sugar at the same time. They both startle at the burning sensation on the fine skin on the inside of their wrists, blue eyes meeting hazel eyes and holding. For a moment, it’s like they’re the only two people in the world, gazing into each other’s eyes like this, fingers still brushing. Jemma feels a blazing warmth growing inside her chest during that time, powerful and comforting and all-consuming.

Then the world starts spinning again, and she offers him a soft smile when she sees his cheeks growing a little pink. “It doesn’t surprise me,” she tells him, and he raises what she thinks might be a surprised eyebrow in response.

“It doesn’t?”

She shrugs, choosing to examine the mark on her wrist instead of telling him the truth – that she’s been thinking for months that they would be perfect soulmates, him and her. It’s a little monkey, and she hears herself laugh because it is very fitting to Fitz. “Look,” she tells him, offering him her wrist, and shivering when his fingers wrap around it.

She feels a little worried, but mostly excited. She’s found one of her soulmates, maybe her only one, and she was right all along. She thinks it’s very interesting that she kind of expected him to be hers – to be her soulmate. Maybe she should trust her guts more often – although logic and science have never failed her before. She’s established that soulmates obey to neither of those things though… She looks up to watch Fitz as he examines her wrist, her heart jumping in her chest at the focused expression on his face. She thinks she couldn’t ask for a better soulmate than him. She feels blessed, and thankful, two things she would never have thought she would feel at all right after finding out who her first soulmate is.

After a minute of careful observation, Fitz slowly runs his thumb on her soulmark, and a shot of pure happiness surges through Jemma, leaving her gasping for air and eyes burning from unshed tears of joy. She watches as his eyes round up in surprise, and wonders if he felt it too.

“I’m sorry,” he whispers, his voice shaking with emotion, “does it hurt?”

She shakes her head, not really trusting her own voice right now. They exchange a look, and she knows that, just like her, he’s wondering what’s going on inside her head right now. Then she nods at his wrist with a questioning look. He nods his assent, holding out his arm to her… and shrieks when she grabs his wrist. “Jemma! Your hands are freezing.”

She feels her cheeks warm up, because she can feel his eyes roaming her face, but also because this is the first time he’s ever called her _Jemma_. He never calls her that, always calls her Simmons. She introduced herself as Jemma when they got paired up in chem lab, and most cadets call her that, but Fitz doesn’t. He introduced himself as Fitz, and that’s what everyone calls him. He’s never told her in so many words, but she thinks he hates his first name, although she doesn’t know why exactly. In any case, she calls him Fitz, he calls her Simmons. Says it suits her. She likes that he calls her that. She also likes that people call them FitzSimmons now.

Hearing him call her Jemma at that very moment though… it makes her heart stutter in her chest, and fills her with a warm feeling she’s never really felt before. She thinks lingering on what it means might not be a good idea though, so she focuses on the soulmark on his wrist instead.

It’s a couple of intertwined DNA strands. A fairly faithful representation, if she does say so herself. She instantly loves it. She thought it would be weird, or embarrassing, to have a drawing of what defines you imprinted on someone else’s skin, but it’s not. It feels good, it feels _right_. “I think it suits you,” Fitz says, and she looks up to meet his gaze. She’s caught off guard by the fondness in his deep blue eyes. There’s something so unwavering about it that it sends her mind spiraling – but in a good, if unexpected way.

She glances back down at his soulmark after a few seconds, and somehow she thinks she can feel his pulse under the pad of her thumb. Or maybe it’s hers, she’s not sure. Or both of theirs, combined. The only thing she knows for sure is that it’s _fast_. Really fast. She hesitates for a second, remembering the way she felt when Fitz touched her mark… so incredibly _happy_ , happier than she’s ever felt in her entire life… and she wants him to feel it too. She’s never read anything about soulmarks being especially sensitive, but then again, there’s nothing scientific about soulmates.

There’s nothing _rational_ about soulmates.

Biting her lip, she runs her thumb on Fitz’s mark, and he sucks in a breath as she does. She can feel it too. It’s faint, nothing like the intensity of what she felt when he touched her mark earlier, but she still feels it too. She looks up and sees the surprised contentment in his eyes, and for a split second her gaze is drawn to his _lips_. She’s not sure why. Then he speaks, and she’s brought back to reality.

“That’s, that’s, what… what was _that_?”

“You felt it too right?” she retorts, letting go of his wrist and leaning closer, “when you touched my mark?”

“I– I think so yeah, I thought I felt something but it was… _faint_ , compared to, to, compared to when you did _that_.”

“I know! That is so _interesting_ ,” she exclaims excitedly, clapping her hands once, and a small grin grazes his lips at that. There it is again, she’s noticing his lips. Why is that? She’s never payed much attention to them before, and soulmates aren’t always supposed to be romantic anyway, so what is it? Nothing she should be thinking about right _now_ , she tells herself. “Oh! I wonder what would happen if we touched them at the same time–”

“Whoa whoa, easy there Simmons,” Fitz cuts her, catching her fingers in his before she can reach for his wrist again. “Maybe we shouldn’t do this _here_.”

“Oh, right,” she nods, making a face as she remembers the small fact that they currently _are_ in the middle of the crowded cafeteria. She meets his eyes, and he’s looking fondly at her, making her heart jump in her chest once again. “Later then? Your room or mine?” She’s surprised to see him blush deeply at that, and then she replays the words in her mind and blushes too. “For experimenting, of course,” she clarifies with a slightly nervous chuckle that he mirrors, scratching under his ear in that gesture she knows so well that means he’s a little embarrassed.

“Right, yes, experimenting of course,” he nods hastily, and Jemma wonders what’s going through his mind right now.

In addition to calling them FitzSimmons like they’re just one person, people have also been saying that they are psychically linked, and now that she knows he’s her soulmate, she thinks it makes sense. Fitz and her have a very similar thought process, hence why they both can keep up so easily with one another. She’s always thought it fascinating how well their minds work together. Now she wonders if it’s because they’re soulmate, or if it’s because of that fact that they are soulmates.

So many questions!

“Earth to Simmons, do you copy?” Fitz asks with a smirk, waving his hand in front of her face. She blinks a couple of times, frowning, and he chuckles. “Already thinking about how you’re gonna use me as a lab rat?” he teases, and she rolls her eyes a little, not quite managing to keep a straight face.

“Wondering if that’s why we’re getting along so well actually,” she says after a second worth of hesitation. She chances a glance at him, and he’s looking at her with a slight frown, like he’s not entirely understanding what she means. She opens her mouth to elaborate on that, but he shrugs at the same time.

“I don’t think so.”

“Really? Why?” she asks, surprised by the conviction in his tone.

He hesitates a little, and she grins encouragingly at him. He scratches at his ear again, then shrugs again. “I mean, I think it doesn’t matter if we’re soulmates or not,” he says after a while, not exactly meeting her eyes. “I would’ve wanted to be your friend no matter what.”

It’s like her heart grows two sizes in her chest, although she perfectly knows that this is not anatomically possible. “That’s very sweet Fitz,” she tells him, trying to meet his gaze, but he’s closing himself off, for some reason. He mumbles something in his beard, something about it being true, not sweet. She knows him well enough now. She knows what she needs to do to get him out of his head and back with her. “Such a sweet little monkey.”

He looks up indignantly, and she has a hard time not giggling. “Shut up Simmons,” he groans grumpily, “for all we know this is the DNA of a banana, or a very ugly llama.”

“Or a dragon-fish, a microbe, a mammoth–”

“A monkey.”

He’s staring at her again, with the fondest look she’s ever seen in her life, and it fills her with the same kind of indescribable happiness that filled her earlier when he touched her soulmark. “A monkey,” she nods, grinning, and he smiles back softly as they look into each other’s eyes once again. “I would’ve wanted to be your friend no matter what too, Fitz.”

“That’s great,” he nods once, averting his eyes, and he’s blushing again. It sends a thrill through her, and the hopeful, wonderful thought that maybe there’s something worth exploring there.

“Best friends and soulmates then?” she asks after a minute, holding her hand to him across the cafeteria table. They’ve got time, she thinks. Time to figure things out at their own pace.

“And chem lab partners,” he adds with a grin, taking her hand in his warm one.

“Best friends, soulmates _and_ chem lab partners,” she nods with a chuckle, and they shake hands on that. Then Fitz lets go of her hand, forming a fist, and they fist-bump as well, grinning to each other.

And as they do, she thinks to herself she cannot wait to see where the universe will take them next. What they will become. Best friends, soulmates, lab partners, and someday maybe more than that. She knows she’ll be happy whatever happens between them, as long as they stick together.

Only time will tell.

**Author's Note:**

> Please tell me what you think! :D I personally died in a cloud of fluffiness (wink wink soulmate) when I proofread this :D
> 
> ♥


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